Explore "Constance Hately" by Edgar Lee Masters on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
You praise my self-sacrifice, Spoon River, / In rearing Irene and Mary, / Orphans of my older sister!
And you censure Irene and Mary / For their contempt for me!
But praise not my self-sacrifice, / And censure not their contempt;
I reared them, I cared for them, true enough! --
But I poisoned my benefactions / With constant reminders of their dependence.